- 1
The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.countableuncountable
- I bought a new table out of necessity. My old one was ruined.
- The report I wrote was of necessity rushed and full of errors.
- 2
The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.countableuncountable
- For it is in vain for a man to think to seek God in his necessity and exigence, if he seek not God in his ordinances, and do not joy in them.
- 3
Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.countableuncountable
- A tent is a necessity if you plan on camping.
- Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
- 4
Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.countableuncountable
- After eating a full meal, the human body's necessity for food will compel the person to eat again in the future.
- 5
The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.countableuncountable
- 6
Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.countableuncountable
- doctrine of necessity
- 7
Indispensable requirements (of life).countablein-pluraluncountable
ant. impossibility · contingency · luxury